Are You Depressed?

Ever had a bad day? How about three in a row? It's enough to drive an average woman insane, right? Well, according to mental health therapists, "insane" isn't really the best word -- more like "depressed." Most people get a little down once in a while, but when it starts clouding your disposition -- even your appearance -- on a regular basis, it may be time to raise a red flag -- depression and women is amazingly commonplace.
Scroll down to skip ahead and answer the first question about women and depression.

Big changes can cause stress easily, sometimes so easily we can tend to let it slide until it builds up and boils over. Often, others may even notice that something is bothering us. "Someone who is depressed may start paying less attention [to] and care less about personal hygiene," said Dr. Karin Sponholz, a staff psychologist at the University of Southern California. "They may take less time or care less about 'fixing up' their hair, their makeup, and how they appear (their wardrobe). People closest to the presumed depressed person may be the ones to first see the changes, especially if they are subtle."

With that said, Dr. Sponholz makes it clear that just because women don't feel like doing their hair or wearing makeup doesn't necessarily mean they're depressed (whew!), but be aware that any major changes in your daily habits could be a signal that something's wrong. More importantly, if you're increasingly negative, despondent or distant, you could be slipping into a downward spiral.

If you have concerns that you might be depressed, take our quiz to find out how serious it might be, and what you can do about it.

I've been suffering from clinical depression for years, but I've never found that talking to a psychologist of psychiatrist has been beneficial to me. I'm not saying that it isn't helpful to anyone, I think that I just have too many problems to try and solve and that talking to a doctor about it just makes me focus on all the negative instead of focusing on the small positive things.